Bob Leamnson (RLEAMNSON@umassd.edu)
Mon, 7 Dec 1998 21:08:19 +0100
From: "Bob Leamnson" <RLEAMNSON@umassd.edu> Subject: [ifets] Asynchrony by any other name.... Date: Mon, 7 Dec 1998 21:08:19 +0100
I have been an asynchronous learner for most of my life (most of
which was spent without the benefit of websites). Most of what I
believe about teaching I learned from William James. But because he
was dead before I was born this has clearly been asynchronous
learning (and teaching, I would suggest). It would follow that the
emphasis on asynchrony as a new way to learn is misplaced, it being
a very old and tried and true method.
I was struck by the comments of Matthias (his reluctance to
endorse computers as learning technologies for the young) because
they sounded familiar. Some other bright people who are "into"
computers have reached the same conclusions (Neil Postman,
"Technopoly" and Clifford Stoll, "Silicon Snake Oil.") Matthias
suggests that the computer is a tool and you can learn what you need,
when you need it, in a semester. Perhaps I was saying the same
thing some weeks back when I asked who was better served by
advanced technology, those in need of education or those already
educated.
Even so, I would not go so far as to disparage any and all early
use of newer technology, particularly word processing. Steve
Ehrmann conducted a study at Reed College where every student had
a computer, but were left to their own devices as to what to do with
them. When he asked if/how the computers where improving
education, teachers and students agreed that they had, but only
because students had become accustomed to revising their written
work, and teachers were insisting on it. They called it DIATing (Do
It Again, Thoughtfully). Word processing, without central planning,
had, on its own, brought about this desirable change.
Final thought--and a question. The many reports that students
take readily to computer based activities do not reflect my own
experience, and I'm not sure why. What experience have instructors
had with computer use (of any kind) when it must be done on the
students' time and outside the regular classroom, vs. that done as a
group, during class time?
Bob
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